I paused, unsure if he was really ready to hear my response.
After leaving his aunt’s house, we’d agreed to call it a night and table our much needed conversation until morning. But I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about everything his aunt said.
“Nothing,” I lied, snuggling in next to him. I scooted my back against his chest, and he tightened his arm around me, hugging me like he never wanted me to leave his bed.
“You know I don’t believe that, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So what’s up? Tell me what’s got you up?”
I stared out of the windows, watching every raindrop fall and mesh into the next. “Sounds like I should be asking you. Clearly, I’m not the only one with something on my mind.”
“You’re right. But, ladies first.”
“Wow.” I giggled. “You really pulled that card, huh?”
“Just trying to be a gentleman.”
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes. “I just...I can’t stop thinking about what happened earlier.”
“Skye, I told you everything’s cool. My aunt’s not tripping, and neither am I.”
“That’s not the only thing that I’m referring to, Ocean.”
“Oh. You’re talking about what my aunt said.”
“Yeah. She made it sound like she could see that you had real feelings for me?—”
“That’s because I do.”
My breath caught in my throat. I almost turned around, but I was too scared I’d made the words up in my head.
“Ocean—”
“I do, Skye. I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t know why. I mean, I know why. You’re sweet, kind, funny, beautiful...shit the list goes on and on. But I feel like I’ve said all this to you before.”
“You have. But I’ve alsohearda lot of these things before. Niggas love making it sound like I’m the only woman that matters to them, but their actions always portray something different.”
“Yeah, but that’s not me. I say what I mean, and I meaneverythingI say.”
I turned just enough to look into his eyes. “But this is different. This isn’t about you threatening to kill someone. This is about being with and caring for one woman. Aside from your own blood, have you ever done that before?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“That’s what I thought,” I whispered, turning away from him.
He tugged at my body, forcing me to turn and look at him. “But I want to.”
“Ocean, don’t?—”
“I’m serious, Skye. Like I told you before, there’s a lot of things I can’t explain when it comes to you. All I know is the shit won’t go away, and I’m not even trying to make it go away. I want to feel every bit of it, which scares the hell out of me. But I’m cool with that because I don’t want to miss out on something I know is good.”
“You know?” I asked.
“Hell yeah. You’re a good woman. Unfortunately, you’ve been mistreated by too many. But I’m not going to mistreat you, Skye. I got every inch of you.”
“Ocean, how can you say that when you’ve just admitted to never having a real relationship with a woman before?”
